Kao Sarn Thai - Chef Arin Lapakulchai's Thai Street Food in Saigon West, Eden Center

[Ericandblueboy]

On 8/12/2016 at 8:41 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

In Saigon East, there's a new Thai street food shop.  I didn't see a menu, but their board special included floating market noodle soup.  They were all speaking in English and young.

I went to check out the Thai street food shop in Saigon West, just down the corridor from Pho Hai Duong.  It's a small space, operated by 2 individuals (one front, one kitchen).  There are 4 tables and some counter space.  Their website is Kaosarnthai.com.  They were playing some mellow downtempo lounge music when I was there.

The only thing I ordered is their beef floating market boat noodle soup.  It was a very pretty dish but it didn't taste as good as it looked.  The pork rinds were stale, the soup was not only not spicy, but pretty bland (compared to Nava Thai, iThai (in Tysons), and Sisters Thai (Mosaic)).  They topped with noodles with some rare slices of beef (like Pho) which were also bland.

The credit card minimum is $15, so I had to spring some straight cash.  And I incurred a dry cleaning bill after somehow getting soup on my pants.

[DonRocks]

21 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I went to check out the Thai street food shop in Saigon Wast, just down the corridor from Pho Hai Duong.  It's a small space, operated by 2 individuals (one front, one kitchen).  There are 4 tables and some counter space.  Their website is Kaosarnthai.com. 

Chef Arin Lapakulchai recently moved to the area from Bangkok, and the enthusiasm on their website is palpable (click on "About"); however, they seem to be really emphasizing the "street food" aspect, and I don't see anything on their menu that's all that unusual - there are a couple of items I'm not familiar with, but only a couple. For example, Tod Mun Pla might be street food, but I don't think I've seen a single Thai restaurant in this area that *doesn't* have them - it's possible that they don't yet realize that our area Thai restaurants are as exotic as they are (with a couple exceptions, I didn't even realize they were all that exotic, but perhaps so).

I wrote the restaurant and encouraged Chef Lapakulchai to join us - I hope she gets my email. I'd love to hear about her background, her plans for the restaurant, etc. - novel Thai food will *always* have a place in this area, and I wish them great success.

From their website: "Kao Sarn, also referred to as Khao Sarn, or Kao San, stands for rice or grain, which is a stable base in many Asian and Thai cuisine. Kao Sarn is also the name of a popular street in Bangkok, where many street food and local fruits are sold."

[Ericandblueboy]

Your average Thai joint won't have floating market noodle soup or the Chinese broccoli with crispy pork belly, but they're obviously offered by a few more authentic Thai restaurants in the area. 

I think they'll need to figure out the palate of their clientele.  If they expect mostly Vietnamese clients, then the bland soup that I was served yesterday won't get them very far. 

[cocobinga]

Anyone have any recent feedback on this place? It looks like Tyler Cowen enjoyed it, FWIW.